Many mechanical assemblies drive one or more components between various locations within an imaging device during operation. One such device is a printer maintenance unit. During imaging operations, a printer operates one or more printheads, each of which includes a plurality of ink ejectors that eject ink to form ink images on an image receiving member, such as a rotatable drum or belt, or on print media, such as paper. At various times, the printer performs maintenance to clean debris from one or more printheads to maintain the operation of the ink ejectors in the printheads.
To perform the printhead maintenance operation properly, one or more of the printheads and/or the printhead maintenance unit move inside the printer. In one embodiment, the printheads move away from a print medium to provide a path for the printhead maintenance unit to slide between the printheads and the print medium. After the maintenance operation is performed, the printheads return to the position at which they are operated to form ink images on the print medium. Within the printhead maintenance unit, various components, including wipers that clean the printheads, move into engagement with the printheads to clean the printheads.
Existing printhead maintenance units move components into and out of engagement with the printheads using endless drive belts that engage one or more components, such as wiper assemblies. A flexible material, such as rubber, forms the drive belt and one or more carrier tabs are attached to the belt to enable various maintenance unit components to be coupled to the belt. Metal or a resilient plastic affixed to the flexible belt generally forms the carrier tabs. In some situations, a flexible drive belt may distort while driving components of a printhead maintenance unit. Thus, improvements to drive assemblies that enable improved operation with moveable components in printhead maintenance units and other mechanical devices would be beneficial.